Hell is Empty and The Devils Are All Here
by justaclichewhitegirl
Summary: Alexandra wanted the past to stay in the past, but when doing a business deal with the Shelby's that doesn't always happen. Isaiah J.x OC (FWB) & MichaelxOC M for language, violence and who knows.
1. Chapter 1

The sun was beaming straight into her eyes as she woke up and rolled over to check the time, **7:15 AM.** As she rolled over she felt the sheet catch and stop moving with her, reminding her of the other body in her bed. She looked at him as she got out of bed, and relished in the strange feeling of waking up with someone next to you. From that distance, only a few of the cuts on his face were noticeable, but she could see that he definitely had some bad bruises on his knuckles from whatever fight he had got in that caused him to seek out her help in the ungodly hours of the night. She grabbed some clothes out of her dresser, to take a shower and get ready for work. If she was lucky, she thought she might even be get him out of her apartment in time to grab some food before she had to get to work at **9** , but she doubted that that would happen.

She was so engrossed in the warm water and taking stock of the few bruises she seemed to have acquired herself last night, that she didn't notice him enter the room until his arms were wrapped around her waist and his chin was propped up on her head.

"Get out Isaiah, I have to get ready for work." She hit him with a loofah, which resulted in him hissing in pain and letting go of her waist.

"Shit Isaiah, I forgot about the cuts on your face."

"Nah, it's fine they don't hurt as bad this morning anyways."

"That probably has something to do with all of the drugs that you're on." She said as she turned to make sure she hadn't opened any of the cuts on his face.

"Yeah, those definitely help. Thanks again."

"That's my job Isaiah, you don't have to thank me. Especially since you're paying me for them."

"Yeah, paying…" He scratched his head for a second giving her a look that said she probably wasn't getting paid.

"You are paying, and you're also getting out of my shower so I can finish getting ready for work." She lightly poked at his chest to emphasis her point and then stepped back under the warm water as he got out. To no doubt take more drugs to dull what little sense he had woken up with that morning.

She worried about him sometimes. They had become friends over the last year that he had moved up to London with his job that she knew was no doubt just as illegal as her side job. They saw each other at least once or twice a month at parties or clubs and so they just floated together, they both knew it would never be more than a friendship that occasionally led to sex (usually after copious amounts of alcohol), but they were both happy. She had even met one of his friends that he worked with, named Finn, and now she sold them both drugs, although usually just through Isaiah unless they were all at the same party. Isaiah was nice and they were fun to be around. But right now, she needed to be focusing on her day job at her friend Rosalyn's dress shop, _The Rose Boutique_ , which she was gradually losing time to eat before.

As Alex reentered her bedroom she saw Isaiah once more passed out in her bed, so she grabbed his shirt off the floor and flung it at his head as hard as she could (which ended up being a bit more than enough). He bolted up with a frightened yet groggy look on his face, "The Fuck Alex!?"

She stopped at the end of the bed. "You need to get dressed, I have to leave soon, meaning you have to leave soon too."

"You're no fun," he said rubbing his hands over his face. "Why can't you just come back to bed?"

She walked to her closet as she responded, "I have to go to work, so I can make money Isaiah. Which I'm pretty sure you should be doing as well." She grabbed a light sweater and skirt from the closet and turned back to him, only to notice he had left the room. She could hear him on the phone in the other room, but decided it was smarter to get ready for work than to be nosy.

After arranging her hair in a presentable fashion and doing the bare minimum she could on makeup, she gathered her things and shuffled Isaiah out of the apartment and finally headed to work. She checked her watch **8:45** , she was probably going to be late to work.

"Do You Not Understand How Important This Presentation Is For This Shop! This is our first order for a wedding dress and I'm going out on a limb and letting you design it, but you can't even show up on time. How am I supposed to trust you with this project…" This was by far the most dejected Rosalyn had ever been with her, and Alex was not enjoying it one bit.

"I know Rose and I'm sorry that I'm late, but I promise by the end of this I will have this in the bag." Alex had been in the small shop for all of five seconds before Rose had begun expressing how disappointed she was.

"You had better get this order, cause I don't know what we're going to do without it. We need something big to drum up business." Rosalyn was pacing back and forth biting on her nails as she went. She was short, although still taller than Alex, and plump with long brown hair that was messily braided down her back.

"This will do it I promise you. I'm going to head upstairs now to finish getting everything for Miss. Wolfe." Alex started to walk up the stairs to the sewing room and fashion library on the second floor of the building.

"It won't just be her today, the fiancé a Mr. Solomons is going to be with her as well."

She faced Rosalyn and said, "Okay, I didn't expect that, but it won't be a problem. I will get us this deal." Turing around, she just hoped she would get the deal without Mr. Solomon's remembering her from her cousin's office. She tried to not be seen with them, but they were family so she had to show up at her other office sometimes, mostly just to drop of money though. The little she knew from her cousins about him was that he hated Russian gangs for the shit one had put his family through when he was young, and her family was no different from them to him. Either way, she was going to design the dress and she would bring in business for the shop.


	2. Chapter 2

**12**

"Ms. Wolfe. Mr. Solomons. I'm so glad you made it." You said as the door opened with what you hoped was a smile that didn't give away your anxiety. As they approached the cutting table you had cleared off for the presentation, you looked at them and your main thought was that opposites really must attract because that was the only explanation for the combination of an intimidatingly broad shouldered and sharp dresses man and the petite floral dressed woman beside him. Alex shook both of their hands and introduced yourself. "I'm Alexandra and I'll be…"

"Not to be rude love, but how long is this going to take I have a meeting at 1."

"ALFIE! If you didn't want to come along you should have stayed at the office." The spritely woman turned and admonished him, before turning back to Alexandra. "I'm Veronica, please ignore him, Alfie gets cranky if he has to work less than 20 hours a day."

Alex giggled at the woman's sarcasm and lead the two to the table while telling Veronica, "Don't worry, my cousins are the same way."

The meeting ended up taking an hour and a half and Alfie left about 30 minutes in telling his fiancé to just let him know how much it would cost. Throughout the meeting the women covered a range of topics from the dress, to the wedding, and even how Veronica and Alfie had met.

"I'll email you as soon as I have a few designs drawn up so that you can choose from them and I will also send you a price estimation." Alex smiled at Veronica who looked like she was ready to leap from her chair with joy. "Thank you so much Alexandra, I can't wait to see your designs."

"Please, call me Alex." She smiled at Veronica before leading her back to the door at the front of the shop. Waving as she got into a Porsche that had been idling on the street for a few minutes.

Alex finally checked her phone and saw that she had **12 New Messages** , **10** were from her cousins, and **2** were from Isaiah.

 **LIONS!**

(Group Message)

 _ **Alex, don't forget that the club's opening is tonight.**_ –Anatole

 _ **YEAH Party!**_ –Dolokhov

 _ **First of all, you're working so no partying, and second of all we're co-owners so try to act relatively respectable.**_ –Anatole

 _ **BOOO!**_ –Dolokhov

 _ **You Ruin All Fun That Ever Happened**_ —Dolokhov

 _ **Good, that's my job as your older brother. Also, we have a dinner meeting on Friday and both of you have to be there.**_ – Anatole

 _ **Can't I have plans**_ – Dolokhov

 _ **Your "girlfriend" is not plans you're just going to get high and fuck. This is business and both of you are involved in the deal, so both of you will be there.**_ -Anatole

 _ **Cool so I can bring Bianca**_ —Dolokhov

 _ **Definitely not, I was referring to you and our lovely cousin that's not responding.**_ –Anatole

Alex finished reading their banter and quickly responded.

 _ **Idk about tonight, but I'll probably be there Friday**_ –Alex

 _ **Who are we meeting with anyways?**_ – Alex

Then she switched over to Isaiah's text to see what he needed since he saw her literally that morning.

 _ **Can I swing by your place tonight, I think I left my lighter there?**_ –Isaiah

 _ **Also, I would probably have some friends with me, cause they want some coke before we go to some new club that's opening, thanks a million, YOU'RE THE BEST!**_ –Isaiah

Alex huffed and rolled her eyes before responding.

 _ **What club, I think I might be going to the same one. I'll just give it to you there.**_ –Alex

She switched back to the group chat and typed,

 _ **Never mind about tonight, looks like I'll be there.**_ –Alex

She finally made her way back over to the table to clean up from the meeting, and talk to Rosalyn about the materials she would need for the dress, so she could start working on the estimate. As she was clearing the table she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.

 **2 Messages** : **Lions!**

 _ **The meeting Friday is with the Shelby Family, it's at one of their houses.**_ –Anatole

 _ **I take it that your change of heart means that your boy toy will be there tonight.**_ –Dolokhov

She rolled her eyes again and replied.

 _ **He's not my boy toy and who's the Shelby Family?**_ –Alex

She was about to put her phone up when Anatole shot back a reply.

 _ **Peaky Blinders from Birmingham they're moving up to London, and have encountered some turbulence.**_ –Anatole

 _ **Also, he's definitely your boy toy, and there's no use denying it. We all see through your lies**_ –Anatole

 _ **BAM!**_ – Dolokhov

 _ **You're a child Dol**_ –Alex

She put her phone back up and attempted to find her boss to sweet talk her into getting off early since she had just gotten them a great dress deal.

"You're smiling like the cat that ate the canary, that had better mean you got the dress deal." Rosalyn looked at Alex with a smirk that would seem demeaning on first glance, but that Alex knew was simply playful. She hugged the Rosalyn and gave her a peck on the cheek for good measure. "Why of course I did my dear Rosie, I am a professional after all." Rosalyn clapped her hands together in excitement and said, "I am so proud of you, and yes you can have the rest of the day off to go celebrate, as long as you promise me you'll start working on designs first thing tomorrow." Alex laughed at the woman's insightfulness and responded saying, "Of course Rosie, first thing in the morning."

Alex kissed the woman's cheek again and reached around her again for her purse before hurrying home. As Rose yelled after her, "You'd better not be late again tomorrow!"

Alex got to the club before she told Isaiah she would be there, so she could meet with her cousins without him finding out about them. While it wasn't a secret that she dealt drugs, it was a secret that she was closely related to the people she sold drugs for. Once she entered the building she looked around for a sign of either Anatole or Dolokhov and finally found Dolokhov at the bar (which was unsurprising to say the least) so she made her way over to him. Hoping to discuss the meeting of Friday with them both, before Friday on the way there.

Once Dolokhov saw her a walking towards her he got up and met her half way encircling her in a tight hug that began to cut off her air supply before he let go. "I'm guessing you're not just here for my remarkable hugs are you Allie," he said ruffling her hair a bit. "Unfortunately, not I was hoping to talk about the meeting Friday before Isaiah gets here." Dolokhov gasped in mock surprise and exclaimed, "So boy toy has a name." As soon as he stopped talking, he started walking towards some booths in the back of the club, one of which appeared to be guarded by two rather intimidating men in suits. Alex quipped back stating that, "Most people do have names, and I would prefer to get this over before he gets here."

They stopped outside of the booth and Dolokhov ended their conversation remarking, "Yeah, Yeah, hiding your family. We've all been there." Anatole got out of the booth and hugged Alex and told his brother that, "It's really only you that's done that before."

Dolokhov rebutted this by reminding Anatole that, he "hid his pregnant ex-girlfriend from them." By this point they had all sat down in the booth and Anatole motioned back at Dolokhov with his glass saying, "That was a completely different circumstance." Alex smiled at their banter as she as she relaxed into the booth. She would never admit it, but she had missed spending time with them. Her reminiscent attitude was broken when Anatole told one the guys guarding the booth to grab them a bottle of vodka and a bottle of whiskey so they could get their meeting started properly.

Dolokhov broke the silence after a few minutes, "Not to break tradition, but I think we should start before the drinks get here so we can still have fun at some point tonight."

"Okay, this shouldn't take too long anyways. The main thing is Friday you both need to meet me at my house so we can go meet them. It's not black tie, but we still need to look nice so suit jacket" Anatole said pointing at Dolokhov "and a nice dress." He looked at Alex, then he addressed them both saying, "also it wouldn't be a bad idea to try and intimidate them with tattoos, or scars, or something. It probably won't work, but it will show them that we mean business." Before she could even ask Anatole once again addressed Alex saying, "Yes that means all of them and yes by all I mean the tattoo and scars on your back. We're the stronger group here and we need to show that. Any other questions I haven't answered?" Alex and Dolokhov sat in silence for a bit thinking over what he had just said. Alex had started to ask a question when the guard had come back with the two bottles of alcohol. She addressed the guard first then her family. "Thanks, I was wondering how many men we're bringing?" She finally finished after the guard had resumed his place. "Three of us and David. Just our family and their family."

"There family is the size of a small fucking army Anatole. If you wanted to take family you should bring your mother, at least she would berate them into submission." By this point, Alex was whisper yelling at him because the club was starting to fill up and she wanted to draw as little attention as possible.

Dolokhov looked between the two of them before responding. "She has a point mum would be more useful than your husband."

Anatole had set his jaw and effectively ended their meeting by hissing out "I don't give a fuck who you think we should bring. I told them who would be coming, and that's who's coming." They all paused for a minute before Dolokhov opened the vodka drank a shot and then gave the bottle to Alex and then repeated the action with the whiskey. All three of them completed the action before Dolokhov and Alexandra left the booth.

Alex spent about an hour floating about the club before she saw Isaiah and he had been true to his word, there was another guy with him. She couldn't 100% remember his name but she knew it started with an F or something close to that. However, for the time being she was comfortable at the bar and had decided to wait for them there. When she turned around to face the bar again she noticed that there was someone new in the spot to the right of her. The side of his face looked vaguely familiar, but then again faces generally look similar from the side.

Alex didn't notice that she had been noticeably staining at him until he addressed her asking, "Do you like the view or is my face just so repulsive that you can't look away." He had turned his head to look at her and she realized why he looked familiar. They had grown up together.

Her face scrunched up in confusion while she was still registering who he was. "Henry, what… what are you doing here?" She motioned around her indicating the bar. While she motioned, the bartender gave him his drink which he downed before answering her. He seemed to pause for a second to think and he chewed on his lip a bit while he was thinking of what to say.

"Um… well…" he scratched his ear still at a loss for words. "It's actually Michael now, that's what my mom named me before I was taken from her." Now they were both standing there seemingly lost for words. Fortunately, that didn't last long, because it was that exact moment that Isaiah and the other kid (Flynn maybe, she would have to ask) showed up.

"Hey Mickey, you seen this girl I'm looking for…" Michael was starting to shake his head when Alex turned and addressed Isaiah, "I'm right here moron. Honestly, do you even want your lighter back." She smiled at him as he wrapped her in a quick hug. After letting her go he went to stand by Michael and leaned towards her to say, "TBH, no I just kinda wanted some coke."

Alex gave him a look of utter disapproval. "First, never use texting abbreviations in real life. Second, what if I don't have any coke." She shook her head at him making the statement even more ridiculous.

Isaiah splayed his hands out in front of him then said, "Do you know how disappointed Finn would be if that was the case?" Alex glanced at the guy, Finn apparently, beside her and he looked rather startled to have been brought up in the conversation.

"I'm going to have to say not very disappointed."

Michael rolled his eyes and huffed before addressing Alex again. "I didn't think you'd still be dealing drugs, what happened to that being a short-term thing while we were kids?"

Alex looked at him as if she couldn't possibly believe the words he had said to her. "What happened is that I grew up and realized that living costs money. Something I guess you still haven't figured out." She had taken a step towards him and accented her words by poking his chest. Once she finished her rant, she spun around on her heel and walked to the exit. As she was walking away she heard Isaiah ask, "What the fuck Michael? She's a nice girl and she's fun to party with. You couldn't have been a little nicer?" And the last thing she hear of their conversation before she was completely out of earshot was, "Isaiah, you need to figure out that nice girls and girls that are fun to party with are two totally separate things. And SHE is most certainly not a nice girl."


	3. Chapter 3

Guess what I've been doing instead of fixing my research paper, that's right this (also I can't get on a database at home and I've found 2 sources that I need but can't access so that's also a factor of why I didn't do it either).

 _If it's in italics, it's Russian._ I'll have to figure something else out if I add in any Romani languages (or other languages).

 **Friday 6PM**

"How much longer are you going to take? We still have to go to Anatole's before we even head to the Shelby's." Dolokhov's voice sounded from another room in his spacious apartment. "I'm almost done, I just have to figure out where I left my sweater." Alex called back while she searched the guest bedroom for her sweater. Dolokhov had made his way to the room to figure out what was taking so long and was resting against the door finishing a sweet-smelling cigarette, "What do you need a sweater for, you're not going to wear it there, so might as well not take it." Alex stood up from where she was looking and shot him an incredulous look, "I'm cold now – AND - I know prostitutes that show less skin than I am. HELL! I might as well be a whore with as much leg as I'm showing."

She said the last part while motioning to the slit in her dress that went almost all the way to her hip and showed off the Lion head tattoo on her thigh. The tattoo was almost an exact match to the ones that Anatole and Dolokhov had on their chests and served as a mark of allegiance to their family and to the business they ran.

"While you do have a point Allie, Ana is gonna be mad if we're late."

"I know, I know… Doesn't matter anyways, I found it." She picked up the sweater and pulled it over her head and followed Dolokhov as he headed his car.

 **6:30**

The car lulled to a stop in the gravel outside of Anatole's country house and as Alex was about to get out Dolokhov called her back. When she turned around she saw him holding a flask out to her, "We both know that there won't be nearly enough drinking at this thing." Alex grabbed the flask and drank some before handing it back to him and getting out of the car. Dolokhov threw back the rest of the alcohol and tossed the flask somewhere in the car as he got out. "Let's do this Allie."

As soon as they entered the foyer of the house Alex felt a pair of arms wrap around her leg and start to constrict the blood flow. "Auntie! Auntie! Auntie!" Alex detangled the small girl from her leg and then picked her up to rest on her hip. "Hello Talia, how has my favorite little Dandelion been?" Talia was squirming in Alex's arms trying to nestle closer to her, it was obvious to tell that she was fighting off sleep despite the early hour. "Good!" the clacking of heals on tile pierced the air "Natalia, get down, I doubt that Alexandra desires your clinging." The little girls face fell as she slide down Alex's side as her grandmother instructed. The older woman looked Alex up and down as she crossed the room to collect the child and pursed her lips as she finished her inspection. "I see how my son intends to seal a deal with those Blinder devils. _Well, at least your nighttime activities will finally come in handy._ " She switched to Russian to keep Natalia from listening.

" _I hardly think your one to talk mother since we all know Anatole was born before you an' Da' were married."_ Dolokhov countered, also in Russian, as he pushed off the wall and picked up his niece just to keep his mother from shuffling her out of the room. Corddelia's face took on a red shade and pulled tighter than usual as she glared at her youngest son.

"Here let me take her, I know she's tired so I'll just go ahead and put her to bed before we leave." None of them had noticed David enter the room, but Alex was glad none the less because his interruption helped diffuse the electricity in the air. As David was taking Talia to bed Anatole made his way downstairs to where the three of them were still standing, "I bet you're glad I'm bringing David instead of her now." Cordelia huffed and stormed out exclaiming, "Off all the children in the world, mine had to be disrespectful harlots."

Dolokhov made his way back over to the wall he had been standing at as Alex addressed her cousin, "I don't know what you're talking about she was being her usual peachy self."

"If it makes you feel any better, she detests me as well." David had rejoined them and spoke in his soft calming manner that would have set him apart from the cousins if his appearance hadn't already. He continued after a brief ponderous pause, "Although she does appear to dislike you more."

"As much as I enjoy discussing who my mother likes the least, we need to leave if we are going to get to the Shelby's on time."

Dolokhov held the Range Rover keys out to his brother, "Then by all means, lead the way."

 **7:50 PM**

"Dol," His head sprung up as he pulled an earbud out of his ear. "Wake up Alex, we're here." About ten minutes into the drive she had fallen asleep against his shoulder and had slept soundly for the rest of the drive. She blinked her eyes a few times and stretched her arms as much as she could in the confines of the car, "Are we there?" Her voice resonated with sleep. "Yeah, don't forget to leave the sweater. Also, try not to fall asleep over dinner." The car rolled to a stop for the second time that night, and she noticed a few figures standing in the front entrance of the house as she hopped out of the car, still wearing her sweater.

"Dol, escort me- "

"- Dolokhov don't and Alex for the love of God, please take the sweater off."

By this point they had all exited the car and Alex had started to slowly walk towards the entrance of the house while still facing her family, "Maybe I want a big reveal. I mean really, if I'm going to be your whore for this deal I might as well have some – pizazz." Her eyes widened and she shook her hands sarcastically to emphasize the end.

David was looking around pretending to take in the architecture of the house while Dolokhov was leaning against the car smoking another cigarette. Anatole spoke while he walked towards her. "Alex, for the last time you're not a whore in this deal. It's an intimidation tactic, there women would never have scars they don't let them in on the dangerous business." By this point they were a foot from each other and she was looking up at him with all the anger she could must that soon after a nap and replied in a low voice she knew only he would hear. "But I didn't get my scars from business now did I, or at least not the ones you want them to see. No I got those from family." She was glaring at him at this point and reached for the bottom edge of her sweater and pulled it off and flung it in his face.

Her skin prickled in the chill, and she felt goosebumps form on her chest and back. She ardently wished that she could have worn a bra with the dress for some added layer of insulation on her breasts, even if it would have blocked her sternum tattoo. Plus, she wouldn't have had to tie the top at her neck which was causing her some discomfort, but she would just have to deal with it now.

Dolokhov picked up her sweater and placed it in the car and they finally headed up the stairs and into the house.

When they entered the house, there were only three people in the foyer. There was a petite blond woman in a stylish pink dress, another woman who looked older but not by too much who was sporting a beautiful scarlet dress, and a man who looked akin to death himself, with his pale skin and hollow blue eyes that seemed to peer into each of the separately yet at the same time. In turn the three introduced themselves, the blond woman was Grace Burgess, she seemed very kind but just as calculating and the man. The scarlet woman was called Polly Gray, she looked familiar to Alex but she wasn't sure why. The man and Polly had vaguely similar features so Alex assumed they were related by blood and not marriage. The man's name was apparently Thomas Shelby if Anatole saying, "Good to finally meat you Mr. Shelby. I hope we can work together in person as easily as over the phone," was anything to go by.

"Please, call me Thomas since we plan to be working together." Polly stopped inspecting Alex's appearance, to quip "I personally hope it's easier in person I hate doing business on the phone."

Anatole cracked a smile and nodded in agreement. After Anatole, David, Dolokhov, and Alex introduced themselves, Grace walked to Thomas and linked her arm with his and said, "Darling, why don't we go join the boys as they finish their game and wait until after dinner to start business." She paused for a minute to gauge if she would have to push anymore and decided she did, "The food will be ready in a few minutes, it'll give everyone time to mingle and get on better terms before business too." Polly's voice rang out, "Yes, Thomas I agree with the girl for once, business can wait."

As they walked towards the back of the house Alex peered into the rooms they passed. Towards the front of the house there was a spacious living room with a flat screen and a few couches, she saw a study that seemed nice, but rarely used, a small library with one wall of solid glass looking out into the night, and a few small bedrooms that were probably for non-familial guests. The room they finally entered had an odd beachy yet refined feeling to it. The first thing Alex notice in the room, was the large pool that was just beyond the windows; however, the second thing was the group of four men around a pool table, who in turn had three women sitting in chairs pretending to be watching them while in reality they were watching the television.

Alex recognized none of the women, however she did see Isaiah's friend Finn and Henry, no Michael not Henry, and her mood instantly soured.

Their little group had reached the others and Thomas was about to start introducing them, when Michael locked eyes with Alex and his face darkened. Michael spoke almost instantly, "The fuck are you doing here?" Polly's head shot up at him, "Michael! That is no way to speak to a guest." At this point, everyone was alternating between looking at Michael and Alex, while Finn looked at the ground like he wanted to melt into it in case he was called on. "It's fine miss, he's always been like that. Bad upbringing, I suppose." Alex quirked her eyebrow at him and then shot Polly a smile, as her mouth hung open in shock. "Also, I realized why you looked familiar when I first saw you. He looked quite a bit like you when we were younger."

The room was silent until a small voice near the door broke the silence, "The food is ready Mr. Shelby." And once more the room was enveloped in silence, as Alex looked at Thomas Shelby, "Well, I'm starving and will be much more inclined to be gawked at over dinner," and she angled her body to the side indicating for someone to lead the way. "Yes. Well. Dinner." He motioned forward as he and Grace lead the party to dinner.

The dinner went surprisingly well considering how poorly the evening had started off. Most everyone got along and those who didn't bantered for fun. It was clear that Anatole and Thomas had similar personalities, something that David and Grace bonded over, and that Polly was very interested in how they ran their business. She had started off trying to get information from Dolokhov, but he was more interested in talking with John, Arthur, and eventually even Michael. Finn spent most of the evening on his phone not particularly interested in anything that was happening around him, which left Alex stuck talking to Linda, who occasionally tried to reign in her husband, Ada, who Alex quite enjoyed talking to, and Esme who was engaged, but seemed to be listening more than talking.

After dinner Anatole and Dolokhov, and Thomas, Michael, John, and Arthur made their way to an office that was a few doors away from the dining room. Alex and Polly had been invited to the meeting as well, but Alex had no desire and Polly said she wanted to spend time with Ada while she was home from the States. So, the six women and David made their way back to the room where they all met while Finn disappeared to god knows where.

David and Linda spoke about religion and shared ideologies, while Esme gathered the balls and set up the pool table for a game. After much deliberation, Esme and Grace formed a team and Alex and Polly formed a team.

"I do have to warn you Polly, I am awful at pool." Alex smiled as Polly laughed, "It's not about winning it's about getting to know each other." Esme looked at Grace and smiled slyly, "Although winning doesn't hurt."

"Very true," Polly leaned down as she broke the triangle and the game was off.

After the first round, Polly broke out the whiskey and everyone started to relax more. However, that meant that Polly was getting ready to question Alex about her relationship to Michael.

A few more rounds ended as Alex was lining up her shot and Polly lit a cigarette "So, how do you know my son." Missed, and the ball went over the edge of the table. "I was kind of hoping you had forgotten about that."

"I lost him for the better part of his life and now after seven years, someone from then shows up, and you thought I'd forget." Esme was rather drunk by this point and they had stopped keeping score since neither side was doing particularly well at this point. But, Grace was still sober enough to listen in on Polly and Alex as the talked.

"We grew up together. I met him when he was six, he had been placed with his foster family a little over a month before I got there. My aunt moved there with me after she adopted me, because Russia was no longer safe for me."

"How old were you?" Polly took her shot and sunk the eight-ball too early.

"I guess that's the game then," she paused a minute lost in the past, "I was six when I moved to England."

"So young, where were your parents?'

"Mum! That's enough."

Michael, John, Arthur, and Dolokhov had returned without either of them noticing. Michael was still looking at his mother as Dolokhov shot Alex a look asking how she was doing. To which she simply raised her glass and turned to Polly, "Could you tell me the way to the bathroom?"

"Of course, just down the hall to the left."

Alex could feel them staring at her as she left the room, no doubt getting their first full view of the angel wings carved into her back and the tattoo that ran between them.

While she did sort of have to pee, Alex was mainly taking the opportunity to get away from the crowd that had formed. She found herself wandering into the library she had seen earlier, except it was much larger than she thought, there were three stories of books and on the ground floor there were couches. The other floors were just landings with ladder to get books. Eventually she found herself seated in a plush by the window wall reliving the past she had fought hard to keep buried in her mind.

Alex could feel the sun on her skin and her aunt's hand clasping her own as they walked home from the store.

" _Auntie Mel, why is that rude boy staring at us.'_

" _Perhaps he wants to be your friend Alexandra."_

" _I think he's just rude."_

"That's fine Alex, just don't be rude back." A woman approached them with two boys in tow , one of them was the rude boy. "Hello, Ms. I'm Hellen. I live a few houses down from you and I was wondering if you would like to come over for dinner tonight with your daughter. A sort of welcome to the neighborhood."

"That would be lovely Helen, thank you." Alex looked at her aunt in disbelief and tugged on her hand, " _I don't want to Auntie."_

" _Hush, Alexandra._ Sorry about her, my **niece** is a little shy."

The wheat was swirling around them as the sun was setting and a chill was starting to set in, "Hurry up Henry! Auntie will be mad if were late." He jogged to catch up with her fast pace. At 9 he was already taller than her and his longer legs made their trek home easier. "This was your idea, shouldn't you have known how long it would take to get to the stream?"

She turned to face him as the fences where finally in sight, "In a perfect world I would know everything, but this is not a perfect world." With that she took off running hoping to beat him home.

The teacher was droning on at the front of the room, attempting to teach the class."

Alex slipped put a sheet of paper and wrote, " _This is awful, how much longer."_ And passed it to Henry a few desks away.

" _Too damn long."_

"Mr. Jones, Miss. Lev note passing will not be tolerated in my class, hand it here." Henry gave the woman the note, "What are the scribbles? Are you trying to be funny?" The woman raised her eyebrow and peered between the two of them. "It's in Russian Mrs."

"Why I never, office now Miss Lev!"

Alex stood up both enraged and confused, "What for?"

"Disobedience, NOW child!

Alex rolled out of the bed and looked for her clothes. "You don't have to leave yet." Alex looked at James in disbelief, "Yeah I do, your brother will be here any minute." Alex found her pants as she heard Henry call through the house, "Alex! Alex, you here. She'd better be here, she told me to meet her here." There was a slight knock then the door opened, "Have you seen-" He paused seeing Alex and James, "-Well, I guess that answers where you were." He slammed the door closed again and stormed out of the house slamming the front door.

The ground was cold but the sky made up for it, there were so many stars, "There's the north star." Henry's arm was outstretch pointing to some star though Alex couldn't tell which one. "That's nice, but I have no idea what you're pointing at." She shivered slightly in the cold so he pulled her closer to him. "Hen, who was that man that came to see you today?"

"Let's talk about it tomorrow and take a few minutes of you not worrying."

"My job is to worry."

He turned to her and smiled, kissing the top of her head. "Really I thought your job was selling drugs."

"Shut up."

It was cold and dark and Alex could feel a warm liquid running down her back, and she hurt, she hurt everywhere. A rough hand grabbed her face as she lost consciousness.

Her eyes shot open and she looked around trying to get her eyes to focus on anything. She saw a vague blob leaning against the railing in front of her, "I'm flattered that you still dream about me. Even if it does end with whatever that was."

Her eyes finally focused and she shot him a disgusted look, "I don't normally, your mother brought it up. That's the only reason."

He crouched in front of her and she saw her friend again in his eyes, "What was that last part? What happened Alex?"

She stood abruptly pushing him back and walking past him, "That doesn't concern you." She heard him move closer and he grabbed her arm and turned her around, "Why not? We were engaged. We were going to be family."

"Yes, we were going to be, but you got a better option and you left me in that shitty town," her voice rose as she spoke and her eyes showed her anger, then her dropped. "You said you would come back for me, but you never did."

He grabbed her arms to keep her facing him, 'Yes I did, but you weren't there. Where were you?"

"I don't want to talk about it." She started to move away from him.

"Allie, where did you go?"

She turned back to him and stepped so that she was close to his face and harnessed all her rage, "I said I don't want to talk about it!" She walked down the stairs and out of the room to meet her family that was walking by, "Ah, there you are we were about to start a search for you."

"Here I am."

"Well, then it is time for us to be leaving."

Michael made his way into the corridor at this point and most of the Shelby's repressed a chuckle, while Polly stared her down. To which Alex wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, "It was good seeing you again Henry-Michael and Finn, say hi to Isaiah for me."

Guys, I'm shit at pool, so if that was an unbearably awful description take my inexperience into account. Also I refuse to call it billiards, that just sounds so pompous to me, idk.


	4. Chapter 4

**1AM**

Alex laid back on the cold stone as her feet dangled into the equally cool water as her hand reached for the vodka bottle to her right.

"That looks comfy," she opened one of her eyes and squinted at him from where she was laying at the edge of the pool. Dolokhov had a bottle of whiskey in his hand and he was reclining in a deck chair. He had lost his suit jacket somewhere in Anatole's house and his shirt was untucked and slightly unbuttoned.

"It's actually quite calming. The cold is rather enjoyable for once."

"I prefer the stars. Put's everything into perspective."

They settled back into silence as Dol watched the stars and Alex let the cold water wash the past away.

"As nice as it is to have you two here, I would like to be able to sleep tonight." Anatole's voice pierced the calm silence, he had changed into some ridiculous silk pajamas at some point.

"Then, go to sleep Ana."

"Dol, explain to me how I'm supposed to sleep not knowing what you hoodlums are doing?" Anatole stopped in the space between the two of them.

"In your bed wrapped up in silk sheets next to your adorable husband, was my assumption," Dolokhov took a swig of his bottle before leaning his head back to continue looking at the stars. Anatole was about to speak when Alex's voice broke the silence, "What was the deal Ana?"

His face scrunched in confusion as he shook his head, "What?"

Her voice rose as she spoke, "The deal, with the Shelby's. What is it?"

"Oh," Anatole thought for a second as Dolokhov sat up in his chair and answered for his brother. "We distribute their alcohol and provide transport for some other exports and protection for them on our territory, while they let our men sell in their territory. They don't deal in drugs, so there won't be any competition from them"- Anatole butted in, "They're also providing some investment opportunities for us, their legal business is more diverse than ours. It's a good deal."

Alex looked unsure and thought for a second, "Is that all?"

Anatole looked at her in disbelief as he crouched next to her face, "If you cared so much about the deal you could have been there."

"I didn't want to deal with Hen…" No, she reminded herself, not Henry, "Michael."

Dolokhov finished off his bottle, "Is he really that kid you used to run around with?"

"Unfortunately," Alex pushed off the edge of the pool and submerged herself in the water.

Dolokhov addressed his brother again, before Alex resurfaced, "Tell her or I will."

"Why would I do that?"

"Do what?" Alex bobbed in the water with her dress billowing around her in the water.

Dolokhov shot Anatole a look and then spoke, "There's a possibility of you or me marrying one of them. It's only if the deal goes well and starts to look long term. It's to ensure that neither side will turn on the other."

Her face fell as she looked to Anatole in the hopes it was all a lie. When he didn't make eye contact she knew it was true and anger enveloped her as she pushed herself out of the pool. Her voice slowly rose as she spoke, "I will not- marry- one of those fucking peaky bastards." Alex was in Anatole's face as she spoke. Anatole's eyes darkened and he grabbed her jaw as his eyes got wide, "It won't be one of the Blinders, it'll be a Shelby- by blood. And you need to think about the good of this family not just your emotions."

Dolokhov pushed them apart and was staring Anatole down as Alex spit back, "I am thinking about this family and the hell that I will rain down on your head if I have to marry one of them. But you! You- Are Thinking Of Yourself And The Business!"

Alex spat at him and stormed through the house and out of the front doors. Dolokhov looked at his brother with sheer disappointment as he followed Alex out of the house, calling a car on the way to take them back to his apartment, where Alex had left her things from earlier that day.


	5. Chapter 5

_A.N. This chapter has taken me a while to write. I've gone through a bunch of different versions of how this chapter ends and this is the one I finally settled on, because it goes along with how I currently have the rest of the story playing out in my head. I hope you guys like it! (I also hope you agree with me that the writing has gotten better as I've warmed up to the story.)_

 **9 PM**

Alex could hear the men yelling outside of the ring but she could no longer see them, her entire focus was on the man in front of her. He was large, but he wasn't particularly muscular and she could already tell he would be slow. The adrenaline was taking over and she was having trouble focusing on planning her attack in the last few moments she had before the fight started.

On one hand, she felt euphoric and devoid of anxiety however, on the other hand she barely had any idea where she was and was tuning most of the noise around her out. Which was why she didn't block the first hit and it connected with her jaw and sent her to the ground. She rolled out of the way just as he hit again and hopped to her feet, staggering a bit from the previous blow. As her opponent was getting up, she took the opportunity to kick him square in the face causing him to fall to the ground. She scrambled over to him and started to hit his face to keep him from getting up, but he was so much larger than her that he rolled her off and they were both on their feet again.

Her hearing had returned despite the ringing in her ears and she could feel a bruise forming on her jaw. Besides that, she appeared to be in better condition than her opponent, whom had begun lumbering towards her again with blood running from a few cuts on his face. As he went to swing again, she dropped and slammed into his legs, bringing him back to the ground and elbowing him in the face as he tried to grab her. She heard him cry out in pain and saw his hands around his nose which was spurting more blood.

She was about to lunge at him again as a bell sounded signaling the end of the round, while the fighting may not be clean, round time was strictly enforced to prolong the fights and bring in more money. As she paced in her corner she finally looked to see who all was watching tonight, and saw that a few of the tables towards the back was occupied by the Shelbys: Arthur, Thomas, John, Finn, Michael, and even Isaiah were crowded around two circular tables. Thomas was the only one that had noticed her looking and nodded at her as she was being called back to the fight.

"Oi, Tommy. That little Russian girl can fight." Arthur exclaimed in his drunken state

Tommy shook his head in jest, "Yes she can Arthur. Yes she can."

John too a gulp of his beer and elbowed Michael who's mood had turned sour when he saw Alex enter the ring. "Mickey don't look so down, I'm sure your girl'll still be good in bed."

"Too bad she's not even his girl, Isaiah's the one she's fucking." Finn was having an exceedingly hard time trying to sit in his chair without falling out.

"Fuck off." Michael huffed before getting up and walking off.

"Wait, where the fuck is Isaiah?"

"Don't know Finn, just sit there and enjoy the show." Tommy addressed his brother while still watching the match, causing Finn to finally settle in his chair and prop his head up on the table.

The second round ended quickly, Alex hadn't taken his loss of balance into account when she spun and kicked. He staggered a bit before falling, causing him to hit his head on a pole holding up the net, knocking him out. She won by default causing the crowd around her to grow furious, they had all been betting on the man. That was the entire reason Alex had been fighting tonight, Johnny Dogs had called her because her opponent was getting too cocky and Johnny wanted to remind him that he wasn't invincible.

Alex made her way back to the small locker room to change and see how much bruising she would need to cover up for work the next day. The whole fighting set up was makeshift, so there wasn't a shower and she had to clean herself up with wet wipes and water from a crusty sink in the corner. She had just finished changing into a pair of leggings and a sweater, when Isaiah wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck.

"If I'd known you could fight like that, I never would have fucked with you in the first place."

Alex smiled as she turned around in his arms, "Maybe that's why you didn't know."

Isaiah smiled into her neck as he continued to kiss up and down her neck, leaving a few nips here and there. "I've missed you at the clubs."

She held his face so they were eye level, as she shook her head "I saw you last week."

"For like five minutes, it doesn't count." Isaiah had started walking her back to the wall that was a few feet behind her.

Her back hit the wall as she brought his mouth away from hers for a moment, "Oh, I didn't realize it needed to be more than five minutes for something to count. I guess we better drag this out then."

Isaiah slid his hands under the edge of her loose sweater and ran them over her skin before responding, "We can take as long as we need."

"Then stop talking," Alex pulled him into a rough kiss as his hands continued to run up and down her sides, taking in the scars he was normally too drunk to notice.

As they broke for air Isaiah lifted her off the ground and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He had one arm gripping her thigh to help support her, while the other was undoing her bra. Her hands played with the soft fuzz of his hair as his teeth left marks along her collar bone.

When he got her bra undone he pulled that and her sweater over her head and dropped them on the ground next to them. Now that her breasts were free he took one in his free hand as he started to kiss down to the other, only to have her pull his head back up to her mouth to stifle a moan.

"Oi! No fucking in my establishment. It's dirty enough as it is, I don't want to have to hire someone to clean it because of you two."

Alex slid back to the floor, and poked her head around Isaiah's body, "Sorry Johnny. You can leave the money by my bag, I'll get it in a second."

"If your aunt could see you now, she'd skin me alive."

"I said sorry Johnny, what more do you want."

"Nothing, I just thought you should know."

"Well thank you, now could you leave so I can get dressed."

"Sure, thing love. Sure thing." Alex smiled at the man whom had become like a second father to her over the years as he walked out of the room.

Isaiah finally looked at her and laughed, shaking his head as he backed away, "How do you know Johnny Dogs?"

Alex bent down to pick up her sweater and bra as she answered, "He was engaged to my aunt who raised me. They didn't end up getting married, because he wanted to continue travelling and she wanted to stay in one spot for me, but he was still there for us when we needed him." She had finished getting dressed again and she grabbed her bag, shoving the envelope of money inside of it.

"Do you want a drink?"

"Yeah, but I'll get it myself, before I stop by your table."

He bent down and kissed her temple before he walked out of the room as if nothing had happened.

Alex walked past the ring and saw that another match was well underway, as she made her way to the makeshift bar in the corner of the main room. Once she got there, she signaled to the bartender to get his attention. "Hey love, what can I get you?"

"I'll take some gin," Erasmus smiled at her and nodded before filling her glass "You fought well, it's a good thing you and Johnny are friends…There you go," she went to dig money out of her bag as Erasmus was pushing the drink, but he stopped her, "On the house for family love, Johnny would have my hide if he knew I made you pay." "Thanks 'Ras." Erasmus smiled and nodded his head as Alex left the bar to make her way over to the Shelby's table.

Alex gripped her bag tight against her side as she weaved through the crowd around the ring. The men were howling and raising money to lay a bet on who they thought would win. When she got far enough through the crowd she saw that Michael was no longer at the table. However, before Alex could make much of it, Arthur stood up to greet her, "Alex! Alex, love. Sit! Sit!" He was obviously shitfaced as he shuffled her into Michael's now vacant seat.

"Arthur, I doubt your wife will agree with how much you've had to drink." Alex grinned at him and sat down between him and John who retorted as he puffed on a cigar, "I doubt she agrees with much that we do." Alex relaxed into the drunken atmosphere of the tables, "I supposed you're right John."

Thomas wasted no time between snuffing his dying cigarette and lighting a new one before breaking his previous silence, "You fought very well for someone so small. I bet that's a great asset to your family."

Alex weighed his words as she sipped her gin, "Do you weigh everything by how it could help you Mr. Shelby? Perhaps I just enjoy reminding people to never underestimate the little guy." She turned her head to meet his eyes, "You never know what they're capable of until you push them far enough. Wouldn't you say so…Mr. Shelby?"

"Perhaps…"

"Perhaps…. We should Have more fun than talking about…Politics? Eh"

Alex looked at Finn with an amused grin, "Okay Finn, what did you have in mind?"

"Uh… I don't know…" He sat there blank faced trying to think of anything to talk about before shouting out the first thing that came to mind. "Rice Purity Test!"

John's face scrunched up as he crumpled up a napkin to throw at Finn, "Aw…Fuck off, it's not 2012."

"Isaiah and I were talking about it earlier, it's all I could think off." He got quieter and mumbled to himself, "Plus it could be like an ice breaker thing." Finn sulked in his chair.

Isaiah and Michael walked up as Finn was talking, "We don't need to break the ice if we're already talking…" Michael retorted under his breath, but still loud enough for everyone to hear, "Plus we all know she's got a fat zero anyways."

Alex looked up from the cigarette she was lighting, "Actually I had a 20 or a 30 the last time I took it."

Michael made a shocked face as he got a new chair and Isaiah retook his previous chair, "Wow, so high."

Alex made a sad mocking face, "I know it's not as high as yours, but I did my best."

Tommy was waving a hand around stopping everyone talking, while his other hand supplied the perpetual string of cigarettes, "Hold on, Hold on… The fuck is a Rice Purity Test?"

"Fuck Tom, you live under a rock." Arthur was grumbling while looking for someone to get him another bottle of whisky.

"Thank you, Arthur. Now what is it?"

Alex was relaxed into her chair letting her neck roll over the back rest, so she could look at the celling. "You check some boxes and it tells you how pure you are from 100 to 0."

"Huh… And who would you bet has the lowest score?"

Alex brought her head up, "I don't bet Mr. Shelby." She took a last drag on her cigarette and got up from the table while stubbing it out in an ashtray on the table. As she was walking away Johnny Dogs walked up and grabbed her arm, "Your brother is here."

Her face froze as she inspected Johnny's face to see if he was lying. "Shut down the fight and get everyone out, then lock the doors." She walked back over to the table and placed her bag into her chair, while she searched for the gun and knife she had stuck in there earlier. Once she found the gun she slid it in the back of her pants and pulled down her sweater to cover up the outline and slid the knife up her sleeve, before turning to the Shelbys. "You need to leave…Now." She nodded her head rapidly to hasten them along as she noticed the room already clearing, while they all remained seated.

Tommy looked at her inquisitively, "Why?"

Her eyes roved around the room momentarily, before she heard her name being yelled from across the room. She left the bag on the chair as she walked around the table and towards the tall man randomly yelling things in Russian.

 _I know the Rice Purity Test mention is really cheesy, but it's literally the only thing I could think of and then I got stuck on what everyone's scores would be and spent about 30ish minutes on that. I was originally going to have it be a bigger part, but then the story didn't write itself that way._

 _In case anyone wants to know what I think,_ Tommy: 11; John: 3; Arthur: 9; Finn: 41; Michael: 17; Isaiah: 3 or 4 _. They're the only one that I did because they're the ones that are in the chapter, but I can share what I think other characters would have if anyone wants._


	6. Chapter 6

_A.N. - This chapter is a continuation of the previous one. I would have made them one chapter, but I didn't know how long it would take me to write this part and I had most of the other written already, it was just tweaking parts. As before if it's in Italics it's meant to be in Russian._

She looked around the room as she walked towards him, the room had cleared surprisingly quick for how crowded it had seemed only moments before. She noticed that he didn't have any men with him as backup, meaning that he either didn't think she had it in her to shoot him or he thought he could talk her out of it before she could take the shot.

When she got about arm's length from him she addressed him in Russian to keep the Shelby boys from listening in. _"Why are you here?"_ She almost spat the question at him, and even to those could not understand what she was saying, they knew it was not particularly diplomatic.

" _Sister, so good to see you."_ He closed the remaining distance between them and wrapped his arms around her for a tight hug and then released her to return to his previous spot. _"It's been too long, but you look well."_ His smile was sickeningly genuine, and it sent an unnerving chill up Alex's spine, causing her to repeat her question with even more force than before, _"What! Do. You. Want?"_

Despite her harsh tone his smile remained on his face as he shook his head. _"Sanctuary my dear, sanctuary._ " His stepped towards her and lowered his voice, _"When the time comes of course."_

Alex took a startled step back to regain space between them. _"What does that mean? 'When the time comes.' The time for what!"_ Her anger at his vagueness was mounting, and she had started gesturing around with increasing energy.

He just continued to smile at her as he produced an envelope from inside his jacket, _"Here, I think these will show that I can be a useful ally."_ His smile dropped after handing her the envelope as he turned and headed towards the door, stopping as she breached their momentary silence. _"Whatever is in this envelope, I don't want it."_

He just let out a low sinister rumble of a laugh and continued his way out of the building, _"Take a look, I'll let you reconsider… And don't worry I'll be in touch for when you do."_

She waited for him to be out of the building before turning around and opening the letter with the knife she had slid up her sleeve. She slid the contents of the envelope out as she walked over to the bar. Her face went pale as she flipped over the cards and saw that they were photos of her with Natalia, obviously meant to show that they could get to her if they wanted to. In an instant her rage at having let him leave before she opened the envelope overtook her and she picked up the glass and threw it at the wall on the other side of the bar, "Fuck!" The glass shattered on impact with the brick wall and a few of the flecks of glass flew into her face making her hiss in pain.

Suddenly she felt a hand on shoulder and almost stabbed whoever it was before she realized it was Johnny Dogs. "Whatever he wants you can't give it to him." Alex rolled her eyes and pushed the pictures back into the envelope as she headed to the table that the Sheblys were still sat at to get her bag.

As she got to the table she took in all their faces as she put the knife back in her bag: Michael was as usual staring at her angrily, Finn had passed out with his head on the table, Isaiah and John didn't seem to know what to make of the scene, Arthur was too far gone to really process anything, and Thomas was looking at her in his calculated way, assessing the situation.

Thomas was the one who broke the silence after taking a long no doubt contemplative drag on his cigarette as Alex was putting the envelope of pictures in the bag. "Well that didn't seem to go well." He flicked some ash into an ash tray, "You seem to be quite shaken up."

She looked up at him after taking out the money Johnny had given her after the fight. "My affairs are no concern of yours Mr. Shelby." She stared him down as he nodded his head while standing and stubbing out his cigarette, "You see, I don't know if you know this or not yet, but you are set to marry a member of my family. And I would hate for your shady business dealings with unsavory men in illegal fighting clubs to blow back on my family and our very much legitimized business… Ms. Lev." He paused to button his blazer and nod to the others to get up.

She watched as they made their way across the room before calling to him across the room, "Don't you worry Mr. Shelby, I would never wish harm upon you or your business… Sorry, this was about your family," she dropped her voice so that he couldn't hear her, "at least in this singular instance was."

Thomas turned around as the others were exiting the building, "Family is my priority… Isn't family yours?"

She nodded in conceit, "Different priorities for different family members but yes, I want what is best for everyone… However, sometimes what is best for one is not best for another."

She walked to Johnny Dogs and handed him the money he had given her earlier, "Clear this building out and find a new one. We've been here to long, it's not secure anymore. The ring needs to move more often from now on."

He looked at her momentarily before nodding, "Okay boss."


End file.
